Tyrone Lynch of the City MIssion of Schenectady on Friday Oct. 4, 2013 in Schenectady, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Tyrone Lynch of the City MIssion of Schenectady on Friday Oct. 4, 2013 in Schenectady, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

Image 10 of 12

Tyrone Lynch of the City MIssion of Schenectady on Friday Oct. 4, 2013 in Schenectady, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Tyrone Lynch of the City MIssion of Schenectady on Friday Oct. 4, 2013 in Schenectady, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

Image 11 of 12

Tyrone Lynch of the City MIssion of Schenectady on Friday Oct. 4, 2013 in Schenectady, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Tyrone Lynch of the City MIssion of Schenectady on Friday Oct. 4, 2013 in Schenectady, N.Y. (Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

Image 12 of 12

Recovery's elusive fruits

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Albany

The Great Recession ended in June 2009, but not everyone in the Capital Region has recovered.

Fewer people now work in retailing jobs than did four years ago, and today there are fewer state and local government workers.

Times Union reporters interviewed Capital Region residents as the recession lingered in 2009, and they recently checked back with some of those people to find out how they've fared in the intervening years.

Sales were down at DeJohn's downtown shop in 2009. So, how are things today?

"Terrible. It's almost over," he said last week. "I'm suspecting that Cravings won't be here this time next year.

"Over the past five years it's gotten worse. Bank mergers and acquisitions, the last couple rounds of restacking — (by the state that) took 2,000 out and put 400 back in — reached a tipping point.

"The people on Maiden Lane are hanging on by a string ... The customers I have are spending more. I bought 13 years ago and the first five years it was pretty good. The state has moved lots of people out of leased space to property they own."

More Information

Where job gains are, and aren't

Gains

Manufacturing: Up 3.5 percent since 2008 to 23,500

Hospitals: Up 12 percent since 2008 to 19,000

Leisure and hospitality: Up 10 percent since 2008 to 41,500

Losses

State government: Down 8 percent to 49,500

Financial activities: Down 2 percent to 25,800

Retail trade: Down 3 percent to 47,300

Local government: Down: 6 percent to 40,500

Source: State Labor Department figures for August of 2008 and 2013.

Housing market bounces back

It took five years for the market to surpass 2008 sales, prices

Median

Year Sales price

2008 4,915 $200,000

2009 4,334 $190,100

2010 4,572 $192,000

2011 4,073 $191,000

2012 4,676 $196,500

2013 5,230 $202,600

Figures are for first eight months of each year and cover Albany, Rensselaer, Montgomery, Saratoga, Schenectady and Schoharie counties.

Source: Greater Capital Association of Realtors

Banks and other financial institutions also have cut jobs, according to figures from the state Labor Department.

But what are the bright spots?

Hospital employment is up, as are jobs in restaurants and hotels. Even manufacturing has added workers over the past four years, thanks to GlobalFoundries, which has hired nearly 2,000 people for its plant in Malta, and General Electric Co., which has a new battery plant in Schenectady and a health care plant in North Greenbush.

The decline in consumer confidence and spending has put pressure on retailers, although that's easing as the economy recovers.

"Retail is picking up but it's really a laggard," said Hugh Johnson, chairman and chief investment officer of Hugh Johnson Advisors in Albany. But he said consumers have begun spending money in other areas — housing and autos, for example.

Housing, too, is back to pre-recession levels, but barely. James Ader, CEO of the Greater Capital Association of Realtors, said the number of single-family homes sold through the first eight months in a six-county core area — 5,230 — for the first time topped the 4,915 homes sold in 2008, just before the recession.

The median sale price of $202,600 also topped the 2008 figure of $200,000.

While many of the figures cited are for the entire Capital Region, economist Gary Keith of M&T Bank said Saratoga County has contributed disproportionately to the area's recovery, with its burgeoning technology sector and strong housing market.

Saratoga County's growth has been "very impressive," said Johnson, but for the rest of the region, "it's been an anemic recovery."

Co-owner of Impressions of Saratoga, a gift shop on Broadway in Saratoga Springs.

Barker's shop in 2009 had just experienced a big downturn in business.

Now, "we had a great, great summer," she said last week. "The early part of the year was not great so I went into the summer uncertain. The 150th anniversary activities (of Saratoga Race Course) were great. September was slow because of the weather.

"It's been steadily getting better but very, very slowly. It's nothing like it was in the 1990s.

"The town's been busy. There has to be more (business) because of the apartments" being built downtown.

Agriculture is still a major industry in Saratoga and Washington counties.

Darrow, owner of Saratoga Apple in Schuylerville, says the economy has been a mixed bag.

"We're very fortunate to be in the Saratoga area," he said last week. "The Capital District is a prosperous area.

"But there are a lot of blue-collar people who are hurting. Taxes are very high here in New York."

In 2009 Darrow was diversifying his orchards with a variety of fruit trees, and building greenhouses to extend the growing season, adding vegetables to the mix.

More recently, it was the weather that hurt business.

"We did go through a difficult year in 2012," he said last week. "The East had a rough apple crop as the result of a spring frost.

"This year, in contrast, we have an outstanding crop. It's not only huge in quantity, but also the quality is outstanding.

"Cherries, raspberries and tomatoes suffered from too much rain. But the apples drank it up.

The winners in the current economy are those with advanced skills or education.

"The jobs being created are jobs requiring more training and education," Keith said.

And the Capital Region is managing to attract those people.

"Albany ranks 20th" in the top 100 metropolitan areas in educational attainment for residents ages 25 to 34, he said.

But the Capital Region, like other upstate metro areas, has a widening gap in the poverty rate difference between city and suburb.

By this measure, the Capital Region ranks 17th highest, although that's a bit better than Syracuse, which ranks second, while Buffalo is 10th and Rochester is 11th, according to his analysis.

And those who try to help people escape poverty are in as much demand as ever.

The City Mission of Schenectady launched its "Schenectady Works" program to help people keep jobs once they've gotten them, said Chris Silipigno, director of ministries at the nonprofit organization. A new classroom is used to teach the life skills that employers expect.

The shelter provided 43 percent more meals and 39 percent more overnight stays in the first eight months of 2013 than in the same period in 2008, Silipigno said.